Here is a Napa Gold 1515 filter that was in use on my buddy's Jeep 4.0L for 5,000 miles with Pennzoil Yellow Bottle 10w30. The filter media was a little wavy all the way around, but besides that it was in good shape. The silicone valve was in good shape, the media was still strong and held together well, and there was no start up noise with this filter.

Just changed oil in E430, the Hengst cartridge filter made in Germany looks pretty good after 2 years 23k miles. There isn't any debris I can see, looks like it can be used for another 10-12k miles. Need to take a picture and post.

Looks excellent to me, not concerned in the least about some wavy media. No effect on filter function. As for the thin pleat comment, not sure what that means. Perhaps it's because there's less space between pleats, ie., tight pleating. To me that's good thing. And this NG looks to have substantial media area. Solid looking construction.